Recs

2

5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers

There's never a shortage of losers in the stock market.

Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest sinkers.

Company

Aug. 19

Weekly Loss

My Watchlist

ValueVision (Nasdaq: VVTV  )

$3.22

(41%)

Add

Gulf Resources (Nasdaq: GURE  )

$1.88

(37%)

Add

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS  )

$9.98

(37%)

Add

VanceInfo (NYSE: VIT  )

$12.47

(29%)

Add

Travelzoo (Nasdaq: TZOO  )

$32.55

(29%)

Add

Source: Barron's.

ValueVision may be boasting about posting its fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, but the market saw something else. The company behind multichannel retailer ShopNBC badly missed Wall Street's sales and bottom-line targets. A supplier's liquidation is also introducing a little uncertainty into the mix.

Gulf Resources tanked after the Chinese chemicals company that specializes in bromine posted uninspiring quarterly results. You don't need to be a chemist to know that it's not pretty when you combine ballooning costs with lower bromine production.

When John Malone offered to buy a controlling stake in Barnes & Noble for $17 a share, I didn't buy it. Malone couldn't be that stupid, I argued. I was right. Malone backed away from his lofty plans last week, choosing instead to invest a much smaller sum for a much smaller stake.

Chinese IT services provider VanceInfo took a hit after its CEO donned smudgy glasses.

"The near-term outlook for our industry lacks clarity," he told investors. Judging by the market's reaction to the report, it's fair to say that lacking clarity is not a good thing.

Then there's Travelzoo, with its second consecutive week of cage-free stock slides. The travel deals publisher was treated to the "don't buy" sound effect during Jim Cramer's Lightning Round on Mad Money. Oh, the power of a button push.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Travelzoo. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz enjoys cheering on winners and whispering words of encouragement to the losers. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Compare Brokers

Fool Disclosure

DocumentId: 1541942, ~/Articles/ArticleHandler.aspx, 5/26/2012 6:32:10 PM

Report This Comment

Use this area to report a comment that you believe is in violation of the community guidelines. Our team will review the entry and take any appropriate action.

Sending report...

Today's Market

updated 21 hours ago Sponsored by:
DOW 12,454.83 -74.92 -0.60%
S&P 500 1,317.82 -2.86 -0.22%
NASD 2,837.53 -1.85 -0.07%

Create My Watchlist

Go to My Watchlist

You don't seem to be following any stocks yet!

Better investing starts with a watchlist. Now you can create a personalized watchlist and get immediate access to the personalized information you need to make successful investing decisions.

Data delayed up to 5 minutes

Related Tickers

5/25/2012 4:03 PM
VIT $9.17 Down -0.17 -1.82%
VanceInfo Tech CAPS Rating: **
VVTV $1.72 Up +0.02 +1.18%
VALUEVISION MEDIA,… CAPS Rating: *
TZOO $23.47 Up +0.52 +2.27%
Travelzoo CAPS Rating: **
BKS $17.23 Up +0.19 +1.12%
Barnes & Noble, In… CAPS Rating: *
GURE $1.60 Down -0.05 -3.03%
Gulf Resources CAPS Rating: **

Advertisement